


dreamless

by reptilianraven



Category: Hades (Video Game 2018)
Genre: Character Study, Complicated Sibling Relationship, Gen, Light Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-06
Updated: 2020-12-06
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:48:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,178
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27916258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reptilianraven/pseuds/reptilianraven
Summary: Their growing apart came slowly. He should have seen it coming he figures. Afterall, Hypnos’ domain was the one of rest and Thanatos’ domain was one that would never rest. They were inseparable as children, but nobody is a child forever.-Two times Hypnos gives his brother a dreamless sleep.
Relationships: Hypnos & Thanatos (Hades Video Game)
Comments: 9
Kudos: 192





	dreamless

**Author's Note:**

> first scene is set pre-canon. second scene set after thanatos comes back to the house of hades but before zagreus fulfills hypnos’ favor, and thus than and hypnos still have that…..strained sibling relationship
> 
> shameless fucking around with godly powers, it’s my fic, i do what i want

**i.**

Hypnos’ power came slowly. It was fitting, he figures, that his awareness over the domain of sleep crept in bit by bit, just like how falling into rest washes over the shore of consciousness until all is swept away. 

At first, all he could feel were those in the House, but his power crept outwards languidly, pulling its limbs from the sleep-warm covers and opening its eyes to the rest of the world. Soon enough, Hypnos could feel in his mind every being with a soul. He could feel them twinkle brightly when they were awake and he could feel them dim just that little gorgeous bit when they would close their eyes and wait for sleep to take them.

Hypnos’ power came in like a trickle.

Thanatos’ power came in like a tempest.

“Than?” Hypnos’ voice wavers. He’s scared. How could he not be? His brother was curled up in their bed, eyes shut as he shakes and cries silently, as he hugs himself so tightly that Hypnos is worried Thanatos might just rip himself apart. Hypnos crouches next to Thanatos quietly, panicked words spilling from his mouth. “Than, what’s happening? How can I help, Than, I want to help, please, talk to me—”

Thanatos’ head whips up and his gaze is filled with an anguish so heavy and deep that tears begin to well in Hypnos’ eyes as well.

“They’re always so scared,” Thanatos says, heaving a shaky breath. “They’re all always so scared, begging for more time, begging not to be alone, begging for anything, for _everything_.”

Tears fall from Hypnos’ eyes as he understands what’s happening. How cruel. How cruel, that the Fates would give this domain to his brother. 

He’s just a kid.

“Than,” Hypnos reaches a hand out, pulling on the wisps of sleep. “Let me help—”

“No!” Thanatos _flinches_ away. “Please, no, don’t make me sleep, Hypnos. The nightmares, they’re all so loud. I don’t want to hear them there, I don’t want to _feel_ them there.”

“No dreams,” Hypnos says, taking a deep breath. “I promise, I won’t let you have any dreams.”

Hypnos closes his eyes and reaches deep into his the slumbering power inside of him, unraveling the mist of sleep to find only the purest rest possible, and ripping it out with an agonized cry.

“Hypnos!” Thanatos jerks as Hypnos heaves shuddering breaths. “What did you do!?”

“I got you a dreamless one,” Hypnos laughs a little hysterically, ignoring the throbbing wound in his power and instead focusing on the white mist swirling around his fingers. “A dreamless sleep.”

“Hypnos, that’s not how sleep is meant to be, you can’t—” Thanatos’ words are cut off by another wave of shuddering. Thanatos wails softly, gaze going distant, hands coming up to cover his ears. “Gods, please, stop screaming, I can’t—I _can’t_ —”

“You don’t have to,” Hypnos doesn’t think twice before he waves his hand over Thanatos’ eyes and letting the sleep enter his mind. “Not all the time, at least.”

“Hypnos—” Thanatos begins to blink heavily. The anguish leaves his eyes, replaced instead with a divine sort of exhaustion. “Hypnos, I—”

“It’s okay,” Hypnos says, pulling Thanatos under the covers and keeping watch as his eyes flutter shut, as the agonized twinkle of Thanatos’ soul begins to gently dim. “It’s okay, I promise, everything will be better after some rest.”

“Thank you,” Is the last thing Thanatos says before the waves of sleep wash over him completely.

**ii.**

Their growing apart came slowly. He should have seen it coming he figures. Afterall, Hypnos’ domain was the one of rest and Thanatos’ domain was one that would never rest. They were inseparable as children, but nobody is a child forever.

At first, Hypnos had been sent up to the surface to put the mortals to sleep, just like how Thanatos was sent up to fetch mortals when they died. Hypnos did not excel at this job, he was too distracted, too erratic, too _himself_ to do anything the way things were supposed to go. All those souls, twinkling and dimming in his mind, and he was wholly useless at helping any of them. Eventually, Mother Nyx had given him a new job in the House, one that he was terrible at as well, and there the rift had cracked and grew. Thanatos, the ever diligent and hard working, would never be able to mesh with Hypnos, the failure. 

Growing up was inevitable.

Hypnos just wished growing apart didn’t have to be as well.

“Than,” Hypnos’ voice is soft as he approaches Thanatos in his room. Hypnos had seen him come into the House, impassive as ever, except Hypnos knows him too well. That’s his brother, and Hypnos could see the slight tremor in his hands, the familiar anguish in his eyes. The twinkle of Thanatos’ soul is hellishly exhausted, and yet he refuses to— “Than, you’re tired.”

“That’s none of your business,” Thanatos turns ever so slightly just to glare at Hypnos.

Hypnos rolls his eyes. “It actually is, seeing as I’m Sleep Incarnate and can tell that you haven’t had any ounce of rest in, oh, several straight months. Yikes!”

“If you hadn’t noticed—” Thanatos grits out. “—the mortals are fighting a war.”

“I had noticed actually, haha, I _do_ keep track of all the shades coming in—”

“So you understand that I can’t just take a nap, like you do at your post every other hour—”

“Hey, now, we’re talking about you, not me, let me just help you sleep and—”

“Do _not_ —” Thanatos whirls around viciously, but his eyes are like a cornered animal’s. Not angry for the sake of it, but angry to protect itself. “—put me to sleep.”

Hypnos is silent for a moment. Then, “I take it your dreams haven’t been kind to you.”

“What do you think?” Thanatos sighs, sitting down on his bed, head hanging from his shoulders. “Mortals are killing each other in the most horrid ways possible, sparing no one, and I have to be there as they scream.”

“Than,” Hypnos walks over to Thanatos. “Let me help. Just like when we were kids, yeah?”

“We aren’t children anymore,” Thanatos says softly.

“That doesn’t mean you don’t still deserve a dreamless sleep, every once in awhile,” Hypnos says, pulling on the mist of rest inside of him once more. It doesn’t hurt, this time. Hypnos is no longer a scared child, fumbling with his power, and he effortlessly tugs at the purest rest he can find, swirling it through his fingers.

Hypnos is expecting Thanatos to keep fighting, but instead Thanatos looks up and—

He’s tired.

And Hypnos refuses to fail at helping him.

“You were right, the first time, you know,” Hypnos says as he sends the sleep into Thanatos’ mind. “Sleep isn’t supposed to be dreamless, but I can’t help but care about you.”

“You shouldn’t,” Thanatos says, his blinks growing slower and slower. “Caring only gets you hurt.”

“Oh, don’t worry,” Hypnos laughs as the waves of sleep wash over Thanatos completely. “I know.”

**Author's Note:**

> i love thanatos a lot but how he treats hypnos pre-favor is just,,,,,,so compelling to me
> 
> im [actualbird](http://actualbird.tumblr.com/) on tumblr!!!


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